CONCORD, N.H. — A former medical technician at ­Exeter Hospital accused of spreading hepatitis C to dozens of patients nationwide pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court and was given a trial date of early February.

David M. Kwiatkowski, appear­ing stocky in a tan prison uniform and displaying a trim haircut and goatee, was indicted last week in an elaborate scheme to steal powerful painkillers, causing patients to become infected with his strain of the liver-damaging virus. Prosecutors say he grabbed ­syringes loaded with the painkiller fentanyl, and, in an effort to avoid detection, replaced them with syringes that he had previously used. The substitute syringes, refilled with saline ­solution and tainted with hepatitis C, were used on patients by unknowing Exeter Hospital ­clinicians.

Kwiatkowski, who held more than a dozen short-term jobs across the country over the past eight years, is accused of infecting 32 patients in New Hampshire, as well as six ­patients in Kansas and one in Maryland.

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During his brief arraign­ment Monday, before magistrate Landya McCafferty, ­Kwiatkowski, 33, appeared ­reserved and spoke only a few times, saying yes when asked by the magistrate if, among other things, he understood the charges he faced and his constitutional right to remain silent.

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When it came to announcing his plea, Kwiatkowski did not speak, but his lawyer, Bjorn Lange, said the defendant was pleading not guilty.

Onlookers at the hearing included mostly court personnel and reporters, though one man who declined to answer questions said he came as a victim of Kwiatkowski’s drug-stealing scheme.

The magistrate set Feb. 5 to start his trial, though he ­accepted Assistant US Attorney John Farley’s categorization of the case as complex, suggesting the trial date could be pushed back.

The indictment covers ­Kwiatkowski’s role in infecting seven patients at Exeter. For each, he faces one count of tampering with a controlled substance and one count of obtaining drugs through fraud.

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Prosecutors say additional charges may be filed, and they have not ruled out additional defendants who may have played a role in the case. The most serious charge, the tampering count, comes with a maximum 10-year prison term.

Kwiatkowski is being held in the Strafford County House of Corrections in Dover, N.H.